The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor(s), to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Hybrid vehicles and fully electric vehicles (EVs) use regenerative braking to recapture energy that is otherwise lost/dissipated as heat when using a friction brake (e.g., hydraulic disc brake). However, the regenerative brakes are generally not sufficient to fully slow the vehicle and/or to slow the vehicle at an appropriate rate in emergency circumstances. This is because, at least in part, regenerative brakes are less effective at lower speeds. Accordingly, hybrid and electric vehicles generally include both types of brake systems. Additionally, a single brake pedal is used to control both brake systems as though they are one in order to seamlessly integrate the systems together for ease of operation by the driver.
Consequently, the braking system may initially engage the regenerative brakes to slow the vehicle, then blend the use of the regenerative brakes with the friction brakes before finally switching completely to the friction brakes to stop the vehicle. However, the system fails to account for wear of brake pads/rotors in the friction braking system that occurs over time. Accordingly, the driver may perceive variances in brake pedal stroke and torque as the friction brakes experience wear. These perceived variances can cause the driver to manually adapt a braking style resulting in potentially limiting regenerative braking. Therefore, recovered charge and, thus, vehicle range may be diminished in addition to added wear on the friction brakes from strong brake pedal stroke inputs from the driver.